


After All That We've Been Through

by finereluctance



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finereluctance/pseuds/finereluctance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post season 2 episode “Prom Queen;” Blaine takes Kurt home after the dance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After All That We've Been Through

**Author's Note:**

> Technically this is part of my 'Brothers' series, but since it is set more than a year prior to the series I didn't include it with them. Can be read as a stand alone piece.

***

Kurt did the best he could to enjoy the rest of his junior prom, but it was hard to keep a smile on his face with the stupid scepter in his hand and the crown as a constant reminder of how his peers felt about him. He’d always dreamed about it, of course, he had been wearing tiaras since he was six years old, but he never wanted it to happen through judgment and hate. 

As the final song started, a slow song because it wouldn’t be a cheesy and cliché last dance unless it was a slow dance, Blaine tossed the scepter aside and drew Kurt close to him. The old boy went willingly, more relaxed in his boyfriend’s arms than he had been since he was crowned Prom Queen. He was safe there in the warm comfort of Blaine’s arms, even if once again he didn’t feel safe at McKinley.

“I don’t know if I told you yet, but you look beautiful tonight,” Blaine whispered softly against his ear and made Kurt shiver in delight. “I’m glad you didn’t listen to me or your dad.”

“I should have,” Kurt rested his cheek against Blaine’s temple, hardly a breath of space between them. “I should have listened to you, then this wouldn’t have happened.”

Blaine pulled back so he could see Kurt’s eyes, “Kurt, you’re strong. You know who you are, and you’re not afraid to show that and stand up for yourself… it intimidates people our age, and they will try to put you down, but they’ll never succeed.” His thumbs rubbed lightly, soothingly over Kurt’s hips as he drew him close again. “You’re like a bird, babe, meant to soar and leave all of this behind. Don’t let them keep you down.”

Kurt exhaled, his arms tightened around Blaine’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug right there on the dance floor. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m so glad you’re here,” he murmured. 

***

Kurt smiled at their joined hands as they walked to his front door, their fingers laced together so Blaine’s hand fit perfectly in his. “Dad is going to make you sleep on the couch,” Kurt warned him teasingly, leading him up the steps to the porch. “I’m not allowed to have boys in my bed.”

Blaine’s laugh was light and playful when he tipped the crown back to kiss Kurt at the front door. “That’s what I told my parents,” he admitted with a silly grin. “Besides, I’m just glad that I’ll get to see you in the morning.”

“You really are a Disney prince,” Kurt giggled, still smiling shyly at his boyfriend on the porch. On a whim he took the crown from his head and put it on Blaine’s with a nod of approval. “There, that’s better. Every prince needs a crown.”

The shorter boy smiled fondly and drew Kurt into another kiss, cupping his face gently to let the kiss linger between them. The pair was fairly distracted with one another between the closeness and light kisses, so when the front door opened suddenly they both sprang back in surprise with a yelp and an uncomfortable giggle. 

“Hi Dad,” Kurt brought the back of his fingers to his mouth to hide his embarrassment, but his flushed cheeks gave him away. 

“Kurt. Blaine.” Burt filled the doorway and looked back and forth between the two of them. “Were you planning on coming inside?”

“We were,” Blaine tried to explain, but realized there wasn’t much he could say. “Sir.”

“Right.” Burt was a man of few words, but that made him all the more intimidating to Blaine. When he turned to go back inside, Blaine shot a guilty look at Kurt for getting caught kissing on the porch.

“Your face--” Kurt giggled and tucked his arm through Blaine’s, any further explanation lost to the fit of giggles as he leaned against him. “Come on.”

His embarrassment lessened with Kurt against his side, but that didn’t stop him from feeling suitably chastised when they entered the house and Burt waved them into the kitchen.

“So Finn’s been home for almost two hours. Either one of you want to fill me in as to why?” he pointed them to the table and the tray of fresh cookies that Carol had baked earlier in the evening and put the kettle on the stove while he got mugs and hot chocolate mix out.

Blaine took the seat next to Kurt, one hand on his boyfriend’s knee beneath the table, and took a cookie in the other hand.

“He got into a fight with Jesse St. James,” Kurt explained. “We didn’t see it, but from what I heard it wasn’t much of a fight until Finn threw a punch and Coach Sylvester broke it up.”

“Jesse St. James… isn’t that the kid who egged Rachel last year?” Burt looked over at the table, confusion on his face. “What was he doing there?”

Kurt shrugged, “Apparently she forgave him.”

Burt sighed in the kitchen. “Finn still likes Rachel, then? I thought he took Quinn to the dance?”

“I don’t know, Dad. Finn doesn’t exactly like to talk about his feelings.” Kurt took a piece of Blaine’s cookie from his hand rather than get one for himself.

“Hey!” Blaine pouted at him until Kurt picked up another cookie and put it in his hand to replace the stolen piece. Kurt smiled softly at him, his eyes shining with fondness that tempted Blaine to kiss him right there except he knew Burt was watching them so he reluctantly kept the small space between them.

“Well then,” Kurt’s dad cleared his throat and set two mugs in front of them and picked up his own to join them at the table. “How was the dance for you two? Did you have a good time?”

“We did,” Kurt answered too quickly, his voice terse and nervous. Blaine squeezed his knee, silently reminding him to relax. “No one bothered us or anything.”

“That’s good to hear,” Burt nodded and sipped from his mug. “But you’re not telling me something.”

Kurt glanced at Blaine, his eyes pleading for help to explain. Blaine nodded and took the crown off his head to set it on the table in front of him. “There was a small issue when they announced Prom court,” he took a breath to steady himself and turned to look at Burt, “apparently some kids thought it would be funny to write in Kurt’s name for Prom Queen… and he won.”

Burt’s face went from curious, to confused, to livid, as Blaine explained. “Dammit, I knew something was going to happen! I’m going to go down there on Monday and talk to Figgins--” 

“Dad, just drop it, really,” Kurt begged quietly. “I just want to forget about it and pretend it never happened. Hopefully by Monday everyone will have found something new to talk about.”

“They can’t treat you like that, Kurt,” Burt argued. “I know your friends are at McKinley, but I would feel better if you had stayed at Dalton.”

“Dad,” he sighed. Blaine wrapped his arm around Kurt’s shoulders and squeezed gently. “I can’t hide from bullies for the rest of my life. You taught me to be stronger than that.”

The table lapsed into silence, each of them sipping their hot chocolate and avoiding the elephant in the room. 

Eventually, though, Blaine spoke up in a soft voice, “I know it wasn’t… ideal, what happened tonight, and I’m not saying this was any better, but if something was going to happen… this was preferable to a physical confrontation.”

Kurt sighed quietly and leaned against Blaine’s shoulder, his gaze on the old kitchen table that they’d had his entire life. The wood was well-loved and polished regularly, but there were nicks and scratches along its surface, old homework assignments etched into the wood if you looked at it in the right light and from the right angle, but still strong and beautiful; and Kurt realized he was like that table. He was stronger in spite of the situation he had been placed in that evening.

“Blaine is right,” he agreed quietly. “There are so many stories… and I know you were worried,” he looked at his dad, “and with what happened to you…” he turned to Blaine, “I feel lucky that all I got was a crown.”

“What do you mean, what happened to Blaine?” Burt asked, curious but expecting an answer as he looked at his son’s boyfriend.

Blaine sighed quietly and sipped his hot chocolate. He hadn’t brought it up to Burt for the reason that he would get upset and worry more. “When I was in middle school, there was a Sadie Hawkins dance,” he told Burt the same story he told Kurt, but he had to share all of it, even the details he had left out when he told his boyfriend. “When we were waiting for his dad to pick us up, five guys surrounded us and beat the crap out of us.” He took another breath before he continued, “We both ended up in the hospital… the worst of his injuries was a broken arm and a lot of bruising and swelling.” The sophomore’s hands shook so badly he had to set the mug down, and he was thankful for Kurt’s hands taking his and holding them tightly. “I… wasn’t so lucky. I got between them and him… when I woke up, I had broken ribs that were still healing. My left arm was broken, and my jaw was wired shut, and they told me I had orbital fractures that had healed.” Blaine’s next breath is shaky, and he could feel Kurt tremble beside him, but he continued, “When they brought me in, I had severe internal bleeding, but because of the attack I was in a coma for almost seven weeks so I don’t remember any of that. When I finally got out of the hospital, I had already missed most of seventh grade, so that was when I transferred to Dalton.”

“Oh Blaine,” Kurt’s voice cracked, and his eyes were filled with tears. “You should have told me, I wouldn’t have asked you to go…”

“I wanted to go,” Blaine’s voice was low, shaky. “You were so excited, and I couldn’t take that away from you.”

Kurt hugged him tightly and he sunk willingly into the embrace, his face pressed against the soft material of his shirt as he took a long moment to compose himself. His boyfriend’s arms were warm and tight around him, strong and supportive, and Blaine knew that he was fine. He wasn’t that scared little kid anymore, and with Kurt at his side they could handle the bullies and the words that people used against them. 

“If I ever find out who they are…” Burt’s voice vibrated with the protective threat. “No kid should ever have to go through that.” 

Blaine clung to him a minute longer before slowly untangling himself from Kurt’s arms and turning to look at Burt. “Kurt is lucky to have you.”

The older man looked between the two of them for a moment and seemed to decide something. “You have me too, Blaine. If your old man can’t see what a good kid you are, well that’s his loss.”

“Thank you, sir,” Blaine whispered, tears springing to his eyes but not falling. 

Burt looked at the clock before returning his gaze to the pair of teenagers, “It’s late, so you two should to get upstairs to bed. And leave the door open.”

“But…” Blaine started to ask, confused.

“Come on,” Kurt whispered quietly and took his hand, smiling gratefully at his father before he led Blaine out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

***

While Burt cleaned up the kitchen downstairs, Kurt and Blaine took turns changing and getting ready for bed. Both of them were quiet, neither able to find the right words until the lights were out and they crawled under the covers together.

“You should have to me…” Kurt whispered in the darkness, his hand resting on Blaine’s cheek, his thumb unconsciously tracing over the long-since healed fractures beneath his eye. “I can’t imagine how hard tonight was for you.”

“You let me drive us tonight. All I needed was to know that if we had to get out of there we could have,” Blaine’s voice was quiet as he scooted closer and draped his arm over Kurt’s waist. “And you looked amazing. There was no way I would disappoint you by saying no.”

“My prince,” Kurt closed the distance between them to kiss him softly. 

***

When Burt went to bed a few minutes later, he hesitated outside Kurt’s door to make sure nothing was going on that shouldn’t have been. The two boys were sound asleep, laying face to face on the same pillow. They were young, but both had seen so much hate already in their lives. He knew he wouldn’t have been as strong if he went through the same stuff at their age, but there they were, sleeping peacefully and innocent. He hated that Kurt was growing up and would be leaving Lima in a little over a year, but if he ever got to choose the man his son would be with, it would be someone like Blaine - someone who would support Kurt and his dreams and be strong for him, but who Kurt could be strong for too. They were good together. 

Content in knowing his family was safe and protected, Burt went to bed himself.


End file.
